Peace movements across the centuries and around the world -- and how we can replace our culture of violence with a culture of peace -- as seen by one of the world's leading experts on the history of peace, non-violence, and the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Peter van den Dungen was born in Holland and has taught for many years in the world's largest department of peace studies in Bradford, England. He also founded and still heads the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP) whose last four conferences were held at the European Peace University in Stadtschlaining (Austria), in Osaka and Kyoto (Japan), in Diksmuide (Belgium), and in Guernica (Spain).

History of peace/ pacifism/ internationalism
United Nations and other international organisations
Peace education/ culture/ museums.

STAFF PROFILE: "Peter van den Dungen's main preoccupation in the past year was the promotion and development of peace museums as prime centres for popular peace education, and as concrete expressions of the growth of a culture of peace. This involved participation in several preparatory meetings for the Fourth International Conference of Peace Museums, which was held in Ostend (Flanders) in May 2003 under his chairmanship. The conference, entitled âFrom war remembrance to peace educationâ, also involved various field trips to some of the many war and peace memorials and museums concerning particularly the First World War in which the region is so rich. He read a paper entitled âPeace Education Through Peace (and Anti-War) Remembranceâ. In autumn 2002, he visited the recently expanded and renovated Gernika Peace Museum as well as the Vall dĂuix- Peace Museum (near Castell-n, Spain). Peter continues to edit the newsletter of the International Network of Peace Museums. For the annual meeting of the German Working Group on Historical Peace Research (Arbeitskreis Historische Friedensforschung) in autumn 2003 which has chosen as its theme ââPeace is not an empty ideaâ: Images and representations of peace 1800/1900â, he is addressing the topic of the representation of peace in museums. For a colloquium in Leipzig in October 2003 on European national monuments in the 21st century, which explores the theme âNational memory and national identityâ, he is investigating the existence of, and need for, âuniversalâ European monuments. Together with Lawrence Wittner, Peter was guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Peace Research on peace history and largely wrote the introductory article (July 2003). He also wrote an article on the occasion of the centenary of Die Friedens-Warte, a journal that can be regarded as its precursor: âThe Centenary of Die Friedens-Warte: A Noteworthy Anniversary in Peace Publishingâ Peace & Change, October 2002. He also contributed to another centenary, viz. that of the award of the 1902 Nobel peace prize to Elie Ducommun, the first and widely admired secretary-general of the International Peace Bureau. Peter was a member of a small ad hoc committee of Geneva citizens who obtained the support of municipal, cantonal and federal authorities for several events, including the unveiling of a bust in a central city park, and the publication of a volume of biographical essays, Elie Ducommun 1833-1906 (Geneva, 2002), to which he contributed a chapter, Le Laureat du Prix Nobel de la Paix."

SCHEDULE FOR WUOT spots for Peter van den Dungen's RET presentation:
(There will be 7 spots in the days leading up to his presentation on September 23rd.)